'Not good, at all': Chicago White Sox strike out 20 times, walk 10 batters in 14-2 opening loss in Milwaukee

LaMond Pope, Chicago Tribune on Mar 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MILWAUKEE — No Chicago White Sox player had led off the season with a home run — until Thursday.

Second baseman Chase Meidroth worked a full count against Milwaukee Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski before launching a home run to left field. Meidroth pumped his fist as he made his way to first base.

The good times didn’t last long for the Sox.

The Brewers knocked out starter Shane Smith during a four-run second inning and hammered the Sox 14-2 in front of a sellout crowd of 43,001 at American Family Field. Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami homered leading off the ninth for the Sox, his first major-league hit, in a game the Brewers otherwise dominated.

“Not good, at all,” Sox manager Will Venable summed up the afternoon. “We had 20 strikeouts on offense and (allowed) 10 walks, so, yeah, not good.”

Smith allowed four runs (three earned) on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 1 2/3 innings.

“Fastball command, it’s something that he’s been battling a little bit,” Venable said. “It was OK there, got away with some stuff there early and just caught up with him.”

The troubles began with one out in the second when Smith walked Sal Frelick. David Hamilton reached on catcher’s interference and Garrett Mitchell walked. That loaded the bases for Joey Ortiz, who blooped a single to shallow right — just out of the reach of a diving Meidroth — to bring in the tying run.

“(An) 0-2 (count) to Frelick to a walk, it’s tough to succeed when you’re doing that, to a catcher’s interference to another walk,” Smith said. “You’ve just got to stop the bleeding somehow. Made a decent pitch to Ortiz and got the ball in the air. Just one of those baseball plays where you’re playing in and (the) guy hits it in the right spot.”

Smith struck out Brice Turang, but William Contreras followed with a double past diving third baseman Miguel Vargas. Three runs scored to give the Brewers the lead for good.

That was it for Smith, who was replaced by Sean Newcomb. Smith threw 54 pitches, 36 of them during the second.

“Not letting today define us as a team or define me as a person or as a player more so,” Smith said of his takeaway from Thursday’s start. “I think I made good pitches, I think I made bad pitches. The untimely walks have been a problem for me even last year and obviously not something I want to continue doing.

“But getting the strikeout of Turang in that inning was huge. Some better-located pitches to Contreras and hopefully the day looks a lot different.”

The Brewers added two runs in the fourth against Newcomb, two in the fifth — on a homer by Frelick — against Tyler Gilbert and three in the sixth that were charged to Jordan Hicks.

Milwaukee scored three more in the seventh — via a home run by Jake Bauers — against Jedixson Paez, who pitched 1 1/3 innings in his major-league debut.

Command was an issue for Sox pitchers, who issued 10 walks (one intentional).

The Sox didn’t get much going offensively after Meidroth’s home run, striking out 20 times — the most in a nine-inning opening-day game in MLB history since at least 1901. Misiorowski allowed one run on two hits with 11 strikeouts and three walks in five innings.

“First of all, Misiorowski is a nightmare to face,” Venable said. “That guy’s stuff is up there with the best in the league. We knew that was going to be a tough assignment. And they bring (in reliever Aaron) Ashby — every arm that they brought in was really good stuff.

“Tough assignments there. We know that coming in. We’ve got to make an adjustment and put the ball in play. But at the same time, we’ve got to give those guys on the other side some credit.”

The Sox had four hits: Meidroth’s homer, a fourth-inning single by Austin Hays, an infield hit by Luisangel Acuña in the eighth and Murakami’s homer leading off the ninth against Jake Woodford. Murakami went 1-for-2 with two walks in his major-league debut.

“I’m happy I was able to take the first step as a major-league baseball player, but at the end of the day we lost the game,” Murakami said through an interpreter. “This is what I’m mostly disappointed about. I’ll try to prepare for the next game and try my best.”

It was only one game. But it was a rough one for the Sox.

“I think the day could look different with a couple different pitches, but obviously frustrated with the outcome,” Smith said. “I think everybody in this clubhouse is. It’s Day 1, there’s 161 left. Just keep at it.”

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